News

SPENDING MORE TO GET MORE

GlobeSt.com

June 10, 2014

By Natalie Dolce

There is a “path of progress” as rent prices are increasing in core markets, and that tenants are being pushed out into those “less expensive areas.” San Francisco is going to Silicon Valley/San Jose and Los Angeles is going to Orange County. That is according to Bixby Land Co.’s Bill Halford.

GlobeSt.com caught up with the president and CEO of the Irvine, CA-based firm about details behind its latest inked deal—136,000 square feet of office space to Verizon Corporate Services, which GlobeSt.com reported last week. And while Halford couldn’t provide specific lease terms on the deal, he tells GlobeSt.com that from a real estate standpoint, THE Campus is the firm’s third campus in Silicon Valley that he’s repositioned—or “developed” as he calls it due to the large sum of capital put into each—that has secured a large tenant almost immediately due to the true creative campus and amenities that were built at the project. “The boutique-style hotel feeling of office space has been a great hit in Silicon Valley,” he says.

“We tend to spend more money than many of our competitors,” he says. “What we're seeing is the tenants are more focused on a better product than they are on a better price. I think in Silicon Valley, there's a disproportionate number of companies that want the best product.”

Bixby’s renovation of the four-building, 250,000-square-foot project was aimed squarely at companies that want vibrant work environments in order to attract and retain top talent in Silicon Valley, as GlobeSt.com reported. “THE Campus offers progressive companies a dynamic office setting with appealing architectural elements and abundant on-site amenities,” Halford says. “The signing of Verizon is an excellent proxy for the caliber and success of the energetic redevelopment at THE Campus.”

Regarding the new 49ers stadium in the area—which Bixby now has two properties within close range—Halford believes this was an ideal spot have a creative campus. “The new stadium will bring a bustling zone of restaurants, communities and tech companies searching for a leading-edge campus,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “It’s increasing hard to find ideal opportunities for development at a low enough basis to put a significant amount of capital into a project, he adds, “but it is those ideal locations that have a tough investor market.”